Description

Players assume one of two opposing roles: Jirel the tempestuous flame-haired female warrior or the phantasmal Black God with its unknowable intrigues. Each character will be forced to make difficult choices as Jirel confronts the inhuman residents of the Black God’s pocket dimension and ultimately the black god itself. Jirel must explore the nightmarish terrain via dice driven movement each round, to join combat or avoid traps and challenges to her sanity. The Black God will array its forces to stop her from reaching her goal by placing fiendish enemies, traps and psychic snares in her way. Can Jirel claim the Black God's deadly kiss and retain her sanity? Will it be worth the effort, or will she ultimately regret her choice?

"Black God’s Gambit" is described by the publisher as a fast-paced, rules lite, solo or two-player, GM’less tabletop "micro game" to be included in the "Black God's Kiss" RPG box set. The game will include punchboard tokens for the players, various enemies, traps, and a 11"x17" hexagonal game map. At the time of the Kickstarter optional add-ons for the rpg included a 48mm resin Black God and 32mm resin Jirel miniature. The microgame will feature several different scenarios or play modes, according to the successful Kickstarter that ended in late September 2022 (the game and its parent boxed rpg set are planned for release sometime in late 2023).

Based on the towering sword and sorcery stories by C.L. Moore (one of the first women to write in the genre and a contemporary of Conan's Robert E. Howard), the warrior Jirel of Joiry’s kingdom has been overtaken by the warlord Guillame. Her last ditch attempt to save her kingdom is to travel into the realm of the Black God via a secret passage in her keep's catacombs, searching for the means to destroy her enemy and take back her kingdom... potentially at the cost of her own soul.